I've wondered about Rodin's famous sculpture. Is he engaged in deep thought or sitting around wasting time? And why isn't he wearing pants? I ask the same of myself. Here we comment on well, mostly politics. Or we may just sit! If you like it, tell a friend. If not, tell us, but please read the GROUND RULES before you do.

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Neoconservative and war supporter John Podhoretz:What if the tactical mistake we made in Iraq was that we didn't kill enough Sunnis in the early going to intimidate them and make them so afraid of us they would go along with anything? Wasn't the survival of Sunni men between the ages of 15 and 35 the reason there was an insurgency and the basic cause of the sectarian violence now?

From Crooks and Liars:

Ann Coulter:These people can't even wrap up genocide. We've been hearing about this slaughter in Darfur forever - and they still haven't finished. The aggressors are moving like termites across that country. It's like genocide by committee. Who's running this holocaust in Darfur, FEMA?

Friday, April 06, 2007

First of all, see Doc's hilarious post before.In that vein...I almost never call for amending the constitution for dealing with the various issues of the day. If you look at the history of constitutional amendments, you see precious few changes over the course of more than two centuries.

You see the first 10, that almost can be considered part of the original document, the Civil War amendments, some that are housekeeping in nature and others that make profound changes.

However, an amendment is necessary--NOW.

We have this provision in Article II, Section 2:

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.

The reason for this in 1789 was obvious. When the Senate was out of session, and vacancies occurred, it might take weeks for the Senate to convene again, and people were needed in those VERY FEW leadership positions.

In this instance, the Senate was adjourned for ONE WEEK and the president used SEVEN DAYS to short-circuit the confirmation process to name a piece of human filth (Sam Fox) that would not have been confirmed to an ambassadorship for the life of this Senate. That MUST end.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Orrin Hatch: "My comments about Carol Lam's record as a U.S. Attorney were accurate, but I misspoke when making the point of discussing politically connected U.S. Attorneys. I accidentally used her name, instead of her predecessor, Alan Bersin, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton."

In other words, it would be accurate, in Senator Hatch's mind, to say "Orrin Hatch raped and murdered dozens of young boys in the late 1970's and early 80's. Oh, wait, I accidentally used his name, instead of convicted and executed serial killer John Wayne Gacy."

"Take Carol Lam, for instance. Carol Lam was raised on your program, Tim, by Schumer. Carol Lam, it’s amazing to me she wasn’t fired earlier because for three years members of the Congress had complained that there had been all kinds of border patrol capture of these people but hardly any prosecutions. She was a former law professor, no prosecutorial experience, and the former campaign manager in Southern California for Clinton, and they’re trying to say that this administration appoints people politically?"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17857501/page/3/Interesting, except that Carol Lam had never been a law professor, was a career prosecutor, was appointed by W, was lauded by immigration officials and had never been anyone's campaign manager.

Blogging is like going to the gym. It is all inertia. It is easy to keep going while going, and it is very easy to not go once you stop. I'll try to do better.

If you can stomach it, it is funny/frightening to read our petulant 5-year old tantrum-throwing "president" at the base in California (where we used to train troops for desert combat, no time for that "training" stuff anymore.)

He actually brought out this old chestnut:

See, what changed on September the 11th is oceans can no longer protect the people in the United States from harm.

Good God, man. The Vikings didn't even have a compass, and did oceans protect Ireland and England from them? Ever hear of the War of 1812, or Pearl Harbor?

And then he goes all tech-y on us:

I had a meeting, a SVTS -- what they call a SVTS, it's a real-time video conference -- with Prime Minister Maliki.

Wow, that's inspiring.

Here's an oldie but a goodie:

Part of our doctrine is if you harbor a terrorist, you're equally as guilty as the terrorists.

Hmmm--Pakistan? Saudi Arabia?

If you get this one, please explain it to me:

You know, after the Korean War, if you had asked somebody, can you imagine an American President being able to stand up in front of some troops and say the Far East is peaceful, a part of the world where we lost thousands of our troops in World War II and Korea is now a relatively peaceful part of the world, they would have said what a hopeless idealist that person is.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Collins: Why this scientist believes in God. I'm a scientist. I know lots of scientists who believe in God. This is just another of those pointless stories designed to feed the belief that there must fundamentally be some gulf between those who choose to be religious and those who choose to believe in science. Wacked out fundamentalism? That's an issue. A belief in God? There's no way to prove or disprove a matter of faith, so science cannot speak on the topic. This pretend idea that if one believes in God, one cannot believe in science, or vice versa, is ignorant, and fuels divisions between people in this country. Stop it.